1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network-access management system and method applied to an information transmitting/receiving server which intervenes between a network like the WWW or the like and a client terminal operated by a user, and a computer program product including a server-executable computer program recorded on a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
1. Explanation of WWW
Of late, a kind of network service such as referring to or creating WWW pages on the Internet has become popular, due to which application software and books, etc. teaching how to crate WWW pages have been widely distributed.
WWW is the acronym of the World Wide Web which is a worldwide information network using the Internet.
A WWW page is a unit of information which is a constituent of a Web document stored in a given WWW server on the WWW. A WWW page is a structured document described in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) or recently in XML (Extensible Markup Language) into which HTML and SGML has been integrated. Image data formatted in GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) or according to JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) can be pasted on a WWW page to be transmitted
Recently, a more dynamically expressed WWW page, formed by accessing a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) loaded in a WWW server or by employing an applet described in a programming language Java (Sun Microsystems), and a WWW page described in VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) for drawing a 3-D graphic on the WWW in real time, have also appeared.
A WWW browser receives data for permitting such WWW pages to be displayed on a client terminal from a Web site, interprets the data and displays the data on the screen of a computer which is executing the WWW browser.
A WWW page or a structured document described in HTML or SGML can contain two-dimensional information such as a text, a drawing, a moving picture, sounds, etc. A WWW page or a structure document described in VRML can integrally contain three-dimensional information.
Owing to VRML, a client user can view three-dimensionally displayed objects from various angles, and can also have an experience such as walking a real-world city displayed as a map in which the objects are laid out arbitrarily.
In general, a method for displaying such a map or a method for displaying information sent from the WWW is known as a cyberspace or a virtual real space.
Due to the above-described function, a client user can view or listen to the information laid open worldwide on a home page, simply by operating his/her terminal, and can also send a page created by himself/herself to all parts of the world.
In normal cases, a structured document, an image, an audio, etc., which are data for enabling the display of the aforementioned page, are stored in a WWW server on the WWW in the state wherein the data has been classified according to user ID information (information such as user accounts, HTTP/IP addresses, etc.) used to operate individual client terminals.
The users who operate client terminals include private individuals, governments, companies and other organizations, etc.
Each user can create hierarchically structured pages by employing a language for creating structured documents.
Of hierarchically structured pages, the particular page which is located in the highest level in the hierarchy is defined as the xe2x80x9chome page.xe2x80x9d
Each user, who has made hierarchically structured pages, can create links by describing, on the home page, URLs for some pages. One page as the link destination can have a link to another page.
URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) are addresses for identifying individual pages on the Internet. URLs are expressed like xe2x80x9chttp://www.xxx.co.jp/index.htmlxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9chttp://www.xxx.co.jp/index.wrlxe2x80x9d, for example, and designate the corresponding pages of HTML and VRML documents.
Normally a link on a page is displayed in the form known as xe2x80x9canchor.xe2x80x9d
An anchor on a page displayed by the WWW browser is a symbol (an image or the like which indirectly expresses the address and contents of the link destination page) which represents the link destination page.
In the case of structured documents, they can have mutually related anchors.
For example, a HTML document can have a link to a VRML document, while the VRML document can have a link to the HTML document.
When a user who uses the WWW browser clicks with a mouse on the symbol which indicates the desired link destination, the WWW browser displays the link destination page (that is, the user jumps to the link destination). The user can jump not only to a page in a lower level in the hierarchy but also to a page in a higher level in the hierarchy, as well as to a page on another web site.
On the page currently displayed by the WWW browser, when the user clicks on the symbol which indicates another page, the WWW browser displays the indicated page. On the page as displayed, when the user clicks on the symbol which indicates another page, the WWW browser displays the page as indicated. In this manner, the WWW browser can display subsequent pages from one to another.
At that time, the WWW browser accesses the WWW server specified by the URL corresponding to a clicked symbol, normally via a provider and the Internet, and downloads the target data from a Web site stored in the WWW server to either a memory or storage device of the computer which is executing the WWW browser.
After completing data download or simultaneously with data download, the WWW browser displays the data as a page on the display of the computer.
Currently, Netscape Navigator from Netscape Communications Corporation, Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corporation, etc. are available as WWW browsers and are now being used widely.
2. Explanation of VRML
In order to display a VRML document, the corresponding VRML viewer needs to be prepared. A dedicated browser different from the WWW browsers such as Netscape Navigator, etc., or a VRML plug-in module or helper application of the WWW browsers offers such a VRML viewer.
As explained previously, VRML is a language used to define a three-dimensional space and object on the WWW.
By manipulating human-type avatars belonging to an object class, the users can walk the VRML virtual space (a walk-through) or can make communications with each other in the manner known as a chat, for example.
By setting a camera to a scene in the virtual space, the point of view can be determined through the camera.
VRML was born in 1994, specification VRML 1.0 was formalized in 1995, and the latest specification is VRML 2.0.
There is a considerable difference between those two specifications. With VRML 1.0, a time stopped three-dimensional scene with no sounds can only be created.
With VRML 2.0, however, a scene such as one in which a placed object starts moving suddenly or a color change occurs upon clicking can be created. Using VRML 2.0, a dynamic world with a music can be realized.
Furthermore, in the actual VRML viewer, the avatars and the camera are moved generally by indicating their positions directly with a mouse click or by operating buttons for their forward and backward movements and rotations with a mouse click.
3. Explanation of Bookmark
In addition to a referring method, like xe2x80x9cInternet surfingxe2x80x9d, of changing a displayed page from one to another in order that a user can refer to the desired page, a method of such a type as typing an URL directly in a location designation area on the GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen displayed by the WWW browsers or the VRML viewer is available in the case where the URL of the page to be displayed is known beforehand.
However, some users may refer to pages for stock price information and news every day.
When a user needs to thus refer to a fixed certain page every time, it would be inconvenient and inefficient for him/her to type an URL consisting of several-ten characters every time.
In consideration of the above, in order to facilitate page display, the WWW browsers, etc. generally have a xe2x80x9cbookmarkxe2x80x9d function.
The bookmark function is that of pre-registering any favorite web site or and page to be accessed frequently in client terminals which are connected via the WWW browsers and the VRML viewer, etc.
A user can utilize this function by the procedures of pre-registering the URLs of to-be-displayed pages as bookmark data items, displaying a list of pages pre-registered bookmarks and selecting the desired page from the list with a mouse click or the like.
By virtue of the use of the above function, the user is released from the inconvenience of typing the URL, and can display and refer to the desired page without a loss of time due to any typing error.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical bookmark display screen 3000 displayed by a certain WWW browser.
As shown in the illustration, the bookmarks can be hierarchically managed, and a collection of bookmarks 3111 can be managed with being filed in a single folder 3110. By so doing, the bookmarks 3111 can be put in order, with the bookmarks being classified according to category, thus enabling the user to find the desired one of the bookmarks 3111 even in the case where the number of bookmarks 3111 is large.
Referring to the bookmark display screen 3000 illustrated in FIG. 1, for example, a xe2x80x9cBOOKMARKxe2x80x9d folder 3100 is located as the top-level file, and a xe2x80x9cWWW SEARCH ENGINExe2x80x9d folder 3110 located below it contains yellow pages xe2x80x9cgooxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cYahoo! JAPANxe2x80x9d registered as the bookmarks 3111. As illustrated in FIG. 1, those bookmarks 3111 are displayed as a list upon clicking on the xe2x80x9cWWW SEARCH ENGINExe2x80x9d folder 3110 with a mouse.
FIG. 1 also illustrates other bookmarks 3111, such as xe2x80x9cIBM Patent Server Home Pagexe2x80x9d, which are not contained in the folder 3110.
As titles for identifying the bookmarks 3111 like xe2x80x9cgooxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cYahoo! JAPANxe2x80x9d mentioned above, the titles set by the persons who made the pages corresponding to those bookmarks are used as they are.
A user, who operates the WWW browsers and the VRML viewer, can select and display the desired page with ease by double-clicking a mouse at the line showing one bookmark 3111 such as xe2x80x9cgooxe2x80x9d, or by clicking the mouse at the line showing another bookmark 3111 on a pop-up window (not illustrated) which displays bookmarks 3111 other than those displayed on the bookmark display screen 3000.
When the user displays the desired page for the first time by typing its URL in the location designation area on the screen displayed by the WWW browsers or the VRML viewer, or when the user discovers the desired page via the aforementioned Internet surfing or the like, the user can add the bookmark 3111 of the desired page by selecting xe2x80x9caddition of bookmarksxe2x80x9d with a mouse click or the like while the desired page is being opened.
At that time, information including the URL and title of the page is registered automatically as a bookmark 3111, and the title of the page is used as is as the title of the registered bookmark 3111.
The user can add a new bookmark 3111 to the desired folder 3110 also during the display of the bookmark display screen 3000 illustrated in FIG. 1, by typing an URL, a title, etc. with an operation for adding new bookmarks 3111.
The user can edit information pertaining to the bookmarks 3111 on a bookmark editing screen (not illustrated) which is displayed by selecting, with the mouse, the property of the target bookmark 3111 on the bookmark display screen 3000 illustrated in FIG. 1.
The user can also delete or remove the target bookmark 3111 itself (including removal from one folder to another folder) on the bookmark display screen 3000 illustrated in FIG. 1, by operating the mouse or the like.
4. Explanation of Electronic Mail
Individuals or companies or other organizations frequently send and receive electronic mails (e-mails) via network like the aforementioned Internet.
The e-mails are transferred between e-mail servers installed on the network. A user (an individual or the like) sends an e-mail to another person or receives an e-mail directed to himself/herself via an e-mail server.
In the case of an Internet e-mail, the e-mail address is provided normally in a format such as xe2x80x9cuser@xxx.or.jpxe2x80x9d or the like.
The e-mails include not only Internet e-mails but also e-mails exchanged between personal computers or between computers installed in other organizations and companies. Those e-mails are exchanged through gateways, etc.
Various application tools (called xe2x80x9cmailersxe2x80x9d) for sending and receiving such e-mails, for example, an application tool put on sale as a set with the WWW browsers, a mail-dedicated application tool, are available at present.
As regards the basic function of sending and receiving e-mails, however, the mailers do not differ from each other depending on their developers.
Having established a connection with the network, users activate the mailers to receive the e-mails directed to themselves.
In receiving the e-mails, the users can classify those e-mails into different folders in accordance with the senders of the e-mails and the contents of the subjects of the e-mails.
In sending the e-mails, the users can easily designate the mail addresses pre-stored in their respective xe2x80x9caddress booksxe2x80x9d, as the destinations of the e-mails, by performing a mouse click or the like. Thus, the users can designate the e-mail addresses with ease and need not type them each time they send the e-mails.
Needless to say, the users have to type the e-mail addresses when sending the e-mails to destinations to which the users have sent no e-mails before. However, if the users register the e-mail addresses at that time, they can easily designate the e-mail addresses when sending the e-mails to the aforementioned destinations next time as mentioned above, and need not type the e-mail addresses.
Moreover, the e-mail addresses stored in the address books are storable in a plurality of folders, as in the case of the bookmarks of the WWW browsers, etc.
Consequently, a hierarchical management such as that performed utilizing the bookmarks is also possible. For example, the mail addresses of friends and company associated mail addresses can be managed with being distinguished from each other. In an e-mail management within a company, the mail addresses can be classified according to department or branch office.
In order to permit an ordinary user to access a resource on the network such as the Internet for the purpose of referring to the WWW pages or sending/receiving an e-mail, the client terminal (computer) operated by the user needs to be connected via a public line or the like to a server called a provider which constantly has points of connections to the Internet.
By so doing, the user can access the resource on the network such as the Internet through the server of the provider, and can transfer a page and an e-mail to his/her own computer.
5. Drawbacks
Due to the bookmark function of the conventional WWW browsers and VRML viewer, users can cause the WWW browsers and the VRML viewer to display the desired page by selecting the bookmark of the desired page with a mouse or the like, without having to input a long URL every time in association with the page.
However, once the bookmark of the page has been registered, the conventional WWW browsers and VRML viewer never change the bookmark location or the structure of the bookmark unless the users operate t hem on purpose.
For example, the bookmark for a frequently accessed (used) page may be located on the inconspicuous lowermost part of the bookmark display screen, or the page may located at such a low level in hierarchy that the users cannot reach the page without opening many folders one after another.
Furthermore, the conventional WWW browsers and VRML viewer do not automatically classify pages according to whether the pages have been accessed in the past or to what genre the pages belong, which results in troublesome selecting operations having to be performed by the users to select the bookmark for the desired page among a number of bookmarks.
The address books of the mailers which deal with e-mails entail the same drawbacks as the above-described drawbacks of the conventional WWW browsers and VRML viewer.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a network-access management system, method and a computer program product including a computer readable program recorded on a computer usable medium, for unitarily managing the addresses of pages accessed by the WWW browsers and the VRML viewer, as well as the e-mail addresses of e-mails received and sent by the mailers, and for creating display data showing the aforementioned addresses, in order to eliminate the above-described drawbacks.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a network-access management system and method for automatically laying out images corresponding to the addresses or updating the display data, in accordance with the frequency of client terminal""s accesses to the pages or the frequency of e-mail transmissions and receptions, etc.
According to one aspect of the present invention having the aforementioned objects, there is provided a network-access management system, which connects at least one client terminal and a network having information resources, and which performs information transmissions between the at least one client terminal and the network, the system comprising:
first storage means for storing addresses of information pieces which the at least one client terminal has accessed in the past;
analyzing means for analyzing attributes of the addresses stored in the first storage means;
creating means for creating display data which reflects a result of the analysis performed by the analyzing means; and
sending means for sending the display data created by the creating means to the at least one client terminal.
With the above-described structure, the network-access management system can create display data reflecting the attributes, for example, the frequency of accesses which the user of the at least one client terminal has gained with respect to the addresses in the past, and can provide the at least one client terminal with the created display data.
The aforementioned attributes of the addresses include at least one of the types of the addresses such as e-mail addresses or URLs, the types of information such as e-mails or WWW pages to which the addresses have been assigned, and the frequency of accesses to the addresses. With this structure, the display data is arranged or modified based on the types of address, the types of the information or the frequency of access to the addresses. For example, the network-access management system can arrange the addresses, which the client-user accessed, on the display data based on the frequency or the type. Therefore, the user can understand the access status at a glance.
The aforementioned display data is map data representing a map in which anchors for the addresses stored in the first storage means are laid out. With this structure, the anchors for the address to which the user accessed, are arranged and displayed like a map. Therefore, the user can select and access information resources easily. Namely, an effective or a user oriented user interface can be obtained.
The network-access management system may further comprise: second storage means for storing display data sent in the past to the client terminal, and means for changing the display data stored in the second storage means to the display data created by the creating means.
According to the above structure, the network-access management system stores the display data. Thus, the client terminals need not to store the display data. Further, even if the user uses aplurality of client terminals, the display data is transmitted to each of the client terminals.
Therefore, the memory capacities of the client terminals can be saved, and most recently updated display data can be presented to the user.
The network-access management system may further comprise: second storage means for storing display data sent in the past to the at least one client terminal; checking means for checking the display data stored in said second storage means with the display data created by said creating means, thereby determining a change in the display data stored in said second storage means; and means for reflecting the change determined by said checking means in the display data created by said creating means. With this structure, the created display data is further modified or arranged based on the determined change. Therefore, the display data can incorporate, for example, the history of changes such as updates of the information, open and close of the information resources, and changes of the addresses. Thus, the user can understand the statuses of the addresses to which the user accessed.
The network-access management system may further comprise: third storage means for storing, in association with the addresses, images which serve as anchors for the addresses; and means for reading out the images stored in the third storage means, based on the addresses stored in the first storage means, and for pasting the readout images into the display data created by the creating means. With this structure, the anchors are displayed as the images with which the address are associated. Therefore, the user can catch the addresses such as an e-mail address and a URL at a glance.
The images are preferably ones for characterizing the information pieces stored in said addresses.
The network-access management system may further comprise: accessing means for periodically accessing the addresses stored in the first storage means; first determining means for determining statuses of the information pieces stored in locations specified by the addresses which the accessing means has accessed; and first altering means for altering the display data in accordance with a result of the determination performed by the first determining means.
With the above-described structure, the network-access management system can provide the at least one client terminal with the display data in accordance with the statuses of the information pieces stored in the locations specified by the addresses which the at least one client terminal has requested to access.
Therefore, the user can see the updated statuses of the information resources corresponding to the addresses.
The images are preferably ones for characterizing the contents of the statuses.
The network-access management system may further comprise: accessing means for periodically accessing the addresses stored in the first storage means; second determining means for determining statuses of the network when permits the accessing means to access the addresses; and second altering means for altering the display data in accordance with a result of the determination performed by the second determining means.
With the above-described structure, the network-access management system can provide the at least one client terminal with the display data in accordance with the statuses of the network having the information pieces stored at the addresses which the at least one client terminal has requested to access. Therefore, the user can understand the statuses, such as traffics, of the network through which the user accessed the information, when the user connects the client terminals to the access management system.
The images are preferably ones for characterizing the information pieces.
The network-access management system may further comprise: sixth storage means for storing information on at least a display performance of the at least one client terminal; and third altering means for altering the display data, based on at least the display performance stored in the sixth storage means, when the display data is sent to the at least one client terminal. With the above-described structure, the network-access management system can provide the at least one client terminal with the display data in accordance with the performance of the at least one client terminal. Therefore, the client terminal with any capability can display the display data. The user can select any desired client terminal from a number of candidates of the client terminal.
The network may be WWW, and said display data may be structured document data described in VRML. According to this structure, the history of connection to WWW can be displayed visually and three-dimensionally. Therefore, the user can easily understand the history.
According to another aspect of the present invention having the aforementioned objects, there is provided a network-access management method for dealing with information transmissions between at least one client terminal and a network having information resources the method comprising:
a storing step of storing addresses of information pieces which the at least one client terminal has accessed in the past;
an analyzing step of analyzing attributes of the stored addresses;
a creating step of creating display data to be displayed on the at least one client terminal, in accordance with a result of the analysis; and
a sending step of sending the created display data to the at least one client terminal.
By employing the above-described method, the network-access management system can create display data reflecting, for example, the frequency of accesses which the user of the at least one client terminal has gained with respect to the addresses in the past, and can provide the at least one client terminal with the created display data.
According to another aspect of the present invention having the aforementioned objects, there is provided a computer program product which is applied to a network-access management method for information transmissions between at least one client terminal and a network having resources of information pieces to which addresses have been assigned, the computer program product including a computer readable program recorded on a computer usable medium, for creating display data to be sent to the at least one client terminal, the computer readable program executing:
a storing step of storing the addresses of the information pieces which the at least one client terminal has accessed in the past;
an analyzing step of analyzing attributes of the stored addresses;
a creating step of creating the display data to be displayed on the at least one client terminal, in accordance with a result of the analysis; and
a sending step of sending the created display data to the at least one client terminal.
The above-described computer program product enables the network-access management system to have the function of making the at least one client terminal display the display data reflecting, for example, the frequency of accesses which the user of the at least one client terminal has gained with respect to the addresses in the past.
Further, the computer program may be embedded in the in a carrier wave which transfers the program and data through a network.